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Idle issue / car dying randomly, and water temp question

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Old 07-19-08, 03:47 PM
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Idle issue / car dying randomly, and water temp question

Ok so, new FD owner here, got a couple questions.

First the idle issue. The car likes to die at idle, seemingly randomly.

Some related background info...car has a Power FC, and the previous owner said that the vacuum lines were freshly routed by a shop in NC called Rotorsports, due to being routed incorrectly previously. The other day, a coolant hose burst under WOT. I replaced the hose and made sure the clamps were tight as I could get them. I'm not sure what exactly it goes to, but it's the big one that's right by that black vacuum box on the front of the engine, by the plenum. I'll try and take a picture later.

Anyway, ever since then, I have had problems getting the car to idle, and it's very random. Sometimes it will idle just fine, for however long I want, until I have to shut the car off. Other times, it will die right away (at a stop light, etc.). Other times, it will idle for 30 seconds to a minute then die. And when I say die, I mean it's as if I shut the car off. It doesn't bog or anything, it just completely dies with no warning. However if I catch it and give it gas, it'll rev up to 3k RPM or so, then keep running. What's weird is that if I give it throttle while at a stop, any throttle at all, it won't die. So I thought maybe it's a tuning issue, but really I don't know, because it worked fine before that issue with the coolant hose. I also don't know too much about tuning, but am tech savvy and mechanically inclined, so if you guys have any suggestions of what to check, let me know and I'll post up what I find.

Second, I have a question about water temps. The previous owner told me that 105*C water temp reading on the PFC is getting in the danger zone. However, when I had my FD on track last weekend, it was regularly climbing to temps as high as 120*C before I knew it, even though I was not boosting much and short shifting around 5k. I noticed the stock temp gauge was creeping up too and so I took it easy. What's the deal here? I should note that the radiator is aft of an oil cooler and a giant front mount intercooler...so it couldn't be getting much flow. But I'm really hoping that I won't have to replace the FMIC. I should also note that the car was tuned at sea level and is now a mile high, if that has anything to do with it.
Old 07-19-08, 04:42 PM
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Originally Posted by RMRanger
Second, I have a question about water temps. The previous owner told me that 105*C water temp reading on the PFC is getting in the danger zone. However, when I had my FD on track last weekend, it was regularly climbing to temps as high as 120*C before I knew it, even though I was not boosting much and short shifting around 5k. I noticed the stock temp gauge was creeping up too and so I took it easy. What's the deal here? I should note that the radiator is aft of an oil cooler and a giant front mount intercooler...so it couldn't be getting much flow. But I'm really hoping that I won't have to replace the FMIC. I should also note that the car was tuned at sea level and is now a mile high, if that has anything to do with it.
120C is too high. Sounds like you need more airflow. Do you have ducting/sealer between the FMIC and the radiator to make sure all the air that comes in through the FMIC goes through the radiator, or can air bypass the radiator?

Where are the turbo(s) sourcing their air from? Got a cold air intake? If not, then your IC is dumping a bunch of heat from the back of the radiator back into the front of the radiator.
Old 07-19-08, 05:08 PM
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does it have the stock radiator or aftermarket such as koyo or fluidyne? The stock radiator isn't sufficient in your case.

For the idle, there are many threads already about this. CHeck vacuum leaks, TPS, ISC valve. and verify that the idle speed screws are set correctly. You might want to bump the idle up slightly, i think factory is 900 or so, you could bump it to 1000
Old 07-19-08, 05:22 PM
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I've set the idle to 1100 on the PFC but that didn't seem to help...will check TPS and ISC next.

As for the radiator...it's a Fluidyne. The car doesn't have a cold air intake because the intercooler piping gets in the way, so the filters are just attached like this:



So yeah, I'm aware that a load of heat is being dumped into the intake from the IC piping. Not much I can do about that, though. I was thinking about at least making a heat shield of some sort...but mainly I was just curious what temps are dangerous for our cars. I found lots of good info on the cooling for FDs since making this thread though
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